Seminole Tribe police kill man after dispute

He was about to set home on fire, officials say

HOLLYWOOD — Seminole Tribe police shot and killed a man they said had struck his wife, threatened suicide and was about to burn down his trailer home Monday, a spokesman said.

Bernard M. Devine, 55, was holding a gas container and a cigarette lighter about 8:30 a.m. when officers arrived at his home in the 300 block of Big Cypress Drive, said Gary Bitner, spokesman for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The home is in the Hollywood Estates trailer park, on tribal land just south of Stirling Road and west of U.S. 441.

"This is not the first time the Seminole Police Department has been called to this home," Bitner said. "He has a history of assaulting police in the past.

"The officers knew that prior to their arrival at the home."

On Monday, Devine's wife Linda Devine, 62, triggered the police visit, Bitner said. About 8 a.m., she had a friend take her to the nearby Seminole Tribe police station, at 3280 N. 64th Ave. She had a cut lip and a lump on her forehead, Bitner said.

Linda Devine told officers her husband, who was intoxicated, beat her and threatened to commit suicide and burn their trailer, Bitner said. Officers headed for the double-wide trailer in the community of more than 500 units set 20 to 25 feet apart.

Officers surrounded the trailer and saw a gas can outside the trailer, Bitner said. Sgt. Jarret Romanello, a two-year member of the force, was entering it from the front, carrying his AR-15 patrol rifle. He noticed a strong odor of gasoline in the air, then saw Bernard Devine holding the gas container and a cigarette lighter, "as if to light it," Bitner said.

"Fearing for his own safety, as well as the safety of nearby police officers and the other occupants of the nearby mobile homes, Romanello fired at the subject, killing him instantly," Bitner said.

Officers summoned Hollywood Fire-Rescue, which contracts with the Seminole Tribe to provide such services, to help keep the home from igniting, Bitner said.

Residents heard the commotion and left their trailers to watch. It worried Bea Taylor, whose mother-in-law's home was near the Devines' trailer. .

"This is the worst so far, haven't seen anything like this," Taylor said.

Devine is the fourth person shot dead by law enforcement officers in Broward County this year, according to South Florida Sun-Sentinel records. In 2007, eight people were killed by law enforcement, including one by Seminole Tribe police.

In the regular course of police work, such shootings are inevitable, experts said.

"Clearly, if an individual is threatening to take a deadly action and they have the ability to take that action, police have to take that seriously, whether it's [with] a gun, a knife, or a can of gasoline," said David Klinger, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Devine, who has listed his occupation as doorman and innkeeper over the years, has been convicted of cocaine possession and destroying evidence, Florida criminal records show.

Romanello was placed on automatic paid administrative leave for three days, Bitner said.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.

Macollvie Jean-FranM-gois can be reached at mjfrancois@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7922.